Apparatus for making rivets



Jam, 11 E924 I 31,479,2283 U. H. DE LAPOTTERIE I APPARATUS FOR MAKING RIVETS Original Filed Dec. 7, 1918 4 Sheets-Sheet )L MN w g fivfikfimgrwwkh? A FILE I 8% O. H. DE LAPOTTERIE APPARATUS FOR MAKING RIVETS Jana 119 11924 Original Filed Dec. '7, 1918 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jim, 1, 11924 O. H. DE LAPOTTERIE APPARATUS FOR MAKING RIVETS Original Filed Dec. '7, 1918 4 Sheets-Sheet f5 Jam, .31, 19241- 2,479,22

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APEARATUS non MAKING Rivers.

7 Application filed December 7, 1918, Serial Ito. 265,752. I Renewed May 17, 1923. i

To all whom it may concern.

Be i known that I, O'r'ro H. on LAPorfl'rnmn, a citizen of the United States, residing' at New Brighton, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsiin Apparatus for Making Rivets, of

which thefollowing is a specification.

I This invention relates to an apparatus for "continuously making rivets and bolts from blanks whose heads only are heated to the forging temperature during the operation of making the rivet or'bolt. v

Heretofore articles made from blanks in the manner described have been made by the stop motion method. The stop motion method of making rivets and bolts briefly described comprises,first, a plain open die rivet and bolt machine; second, an ordlnary heating furnace; and,-third, the following method of operation.

Stock which is usually'round rod or bar steel suitable for making rivets or bolts is hcut cold into blanks "of desired length in a Y forging temperature,

quickly removes it from the furnace with power shear; From the ,power shear the blanks are taken to the heating furnace wherethe man who looks after the heating of the blanks places themside by side in the furnace in such a manner as to heat one end of the blanks. I As soon as the end portion of the first blank placed in the furnace is heated to a the furnace man a pair of hand tongs and passes it to the rivet and bolt machine operator who'in turn takes it inapair of hand tongs and places it between two adjacent faces of suitably I grooved gripping dies in the machine, in

such a manner that the end of the blank protruding through the dies will touch a stop gauge which regulates'the amount of stock to go into the headof the article. The machine operator while still holding the blank in the tongs places his foot on a lever which causes the machine to operate and forge the portion of the blank which" protrudes beyond'the end of'the gripping dies into a head. When the head of the rivetor bolt isformed the operator removes his foot'from the foot'treadle; at a time whichwill stop the m'achinewith gripping -dies sufiiciently apart to allow himto remove the headed article from'between the two halves of the dies.' 'When done properly, this also leaves the gripping dies sufiimethod subject to the serious disadvantage of becoming inoperative at least one-half of, the time, which results in loss of considerable production, as will readily be appreciated.

Another disadvantage is that, with the method referred to, solid die rivets or bolts have not been made from blanks heated in the manner described. The advantage of an article such as a rivet or bolt made in a soliddie as compared'with such an article made in an open die, is that the solid die beinga single block of steel with an orifice in it for holding the shank of' an article during forging of the head, no fins are formed under the head of such an article. Such fins are formed under the head of a rivet or bolt'when open dies are used, be cause some of the metal which forms the underside of the head, is forced in between the two adjacent die sections which of necessity compose open dies. By my invention the difhculties described are eliminated designates a rotaryautomatic blank-feeding hopper which may advantageously consist of va drum 1 mounted on a shaft 2 carried on a suitable supporting structure 3. on the side opposite the shaft 2 the drum 1 is provided with a bell-mouth opening 4 for charging the hopper; The rivet blanks B are out cold by any suitable'blanking machine from which they are delivered by suitable transfer mechanism to the bell-mouth opening 4. The drum 1 is provided with radical slots 5 of the length of the rivet blanks and of a width slightly smaller: than the orifice 7 5' of the stationary die 75 m the heading machine lgenerally dcsignatedIII, which 13 preferab y of the solid die single blow type. 1 The slots 5 are made'slightly smaller m diameter than the orifice in the solid die 75 to make certain that any blank gaged or passed out of the hopper will enter the die with little effort. The rotary drum or hopper 1 is proportioned to hold a suflicient number of blanks so that during the rotary movement of the drum the blanks are continuousl turned over and, tumbling .over one anot er, subject each other to shocks and vibrations which operate to remove excess scale or dirt before being passed to the die In the interior of the drum 1 slot guards 6 are provided which prevent a blank entering an outlet slot 5 endwise, a blank being able to enter slots 5 only when it lies substantially parallel to the axis of the drum in front of a slot.

Below the drum 1 is a hopper chute 7 through which the blanks may pass from the hopper to the blank carrier chain 10 to be subsequently described in detail. This hop- I per chute 7 is of such a height as to hold in reserve a suflicient number of blanks-to assure time for blanks in the hopper entering the radial slots 5 and also allow time for cleaning and slightly rounding of cutting edges on the ends of the blanks by the tumbling action of the hopper to thereby prevent injury to the orifice of the solid die 75.

Adjacent the lower end of the chute 7 is provided an automatic blank cut-ofi 8 for regulating the flow of blanks to the carrier chain 10. This cut-elf 8 may be operated by a simple lateral movement of sufficient extent to allow a blank to pass to the blank carrier chain at the proper time to fill successive pockets 11 of the chain. For the sake of simplicity no translating mechanism for operating the cut-off 8 has been shown,

but it is obvious that the cut-off may .be operatively connected by simple means to any part of the mechanism for progressively advancing the blanks from the chute 7 to and through the heading machine.

The lower half of the drum 1 is surrounded. by a guard -9 for preventing the blanks from leaving the hopper at points other than through the chute This guard has perforations 9 to permit the dirt and scale released from the blanks to leave the hopper. This guard is shown as connected to the chute, but it is obvious that it may be supported in any other suitablemanner,

The blank carrier chain previously referred to forms part of a device'for heating bracing, may be of the usual design.

The cast iron furnace fronts, with the customary stay bolts and The heating a furnace The endless blank carrier chain 10 is carried by sprocket wheels 14 and 14' supported on suitable frame-work at opposite ends of the furnace structure and passes through openings 15 in the furnace fronts over a guide shelf 16 extending substantially horizontally through the furnace structure. As

is clearly indicated in Fig. 3, the gl liding surface of the shelf 16 is inclined so that the chain '10 and the blanks carried thereby are also inclined and have a tendency to move to the lower side., The width of the chain 10 is smaller than the length of the blanks B so that the blanks project beyond one side, thereof. The width of the chain is so chosen that the pro'ecting part of the blanks corresponds to t e portion which it is intended to heat.

The shelf 16 is so located that the projecting portions of the blanks extend into the combustion chamber 13 and are thereby exposed to the flame and gases of combustion while the remaining portion is'protected. The inclination of the shelf 16 has the purpose to prevent the blanks from being thrown by jars and vibrations on the chain into the combustion chamber.

To keep the chain in a straight line'and to that extent hold the projecting ends of the blanks in alignment, the shelf 16 has alimiting shoulder 16' at the lower part thereof. In order to be able to regulate the amount of projection of different blanks," a guide rail 17 is provided which may be adjusted in the direction of the length of the blanks. By means of the shoulder 16' and the guide rail 17 it is made possible to control the extent to which the blanks are to be heated and uniformity of heating is attained.

Above and below the shelf 16 and 'the chain 10 are supported on suitable frame work cooling tanks 18 and Y19 respectively. These tanks extend toward the combustion chamber 13 suflicientl far to effect a cooling of so much of the b anks as it is intended to keep, relatively cold.- Water orother cooling fluid may be..,circulated through rare,

plications, such asvalves 21, may be resorted to to relieve the cooling system-from any pressure which might result from negligence or other unforeseen circumstances.

tional units and a continuous angle iron 22, running the full length of the furnace in such a manner as to support the side of the coolin tanks nearest the combustion chamber, is provided for the urpose of A eliminating the joints resulting rom dividing the cooling tank into small units, which joints might interfere with the satlsfactory riding of blanks through the surface passa e.

ertically below .the tanks 18 and 19 and protected against the furnace heat is a tank 23 in which relatively cool water is maintained by circulation at a level which permits the lower or returning part of the blank carrier chain to sag through the water after its passage through the furnace to be thereby cooled.

The length of the combustion chamber depends upon the number of blanks 1t is I desired to heat in a given time. If for instance 60 blanks should be desired per minute and it takes two. minutes. to heat a portion of a blank to the degree of heat .necessary for for ing it,.then the length of the. combustion c amber and the effective part of the blank carrier mustbe proportioned to accommodate 120 blanks.

As a source of heat are shown oil or gas burners 24 connected with the combustion chamber by flame passage 25. Fire-brick bafiles 26 are so disposed in the combustion chamber 13 as to spread and guide the flames asthey leave the oil burners 24 and to protect the cooling systems as much as possibleagainst the heat.' Blowers 27 maybe used to direct blasts of air .into the flames to wheel 14 is directly connected to sprocket wheel 28 by a shaft 29 mounted in bearings 30 on a suitable support. Sprocket wheel 14 is connected to sprocket wheel 28 through a shaft 31 and intermediate gearing 32, the particular disposition and structural arrangement of parts not permitting a direct connection. However, as is.

obvious, the connection indicated may be and the-alternate of the chain.

In order to intermittently. advance the varied in various ways and suiting parmounted in a bearing 33 and the gear mechanism 32 on a bracket 32' which also serves as asu port for'the shaft 31. It is advisable to make the tanks 1n sec- 28 and28" passes preferab y The r1vingchain'34 on s rocket wheels over guide pulleys 35"to avoidjerks and jars which would be due to the intermittent motion chain mechanism and the blanks, the fol- ;lowing mechanism has been resorted to:

A. horizontal rod '36 is shiftablymounted in brackets 36 adjacentthe driving chain 34. This shaft carries a' laterally projectingpm 38 on which a roller 39 is mounted.

sagging I and stretching Lticular requirements. The shaft "31is ill An eccentric 40 connected to the power drive v vof the machine: in any suitable manner carries an eccentric rod- 41. A lever '42 supported intermediate its endsby apivot 43 on a bracket 44 is connected at one end to the lower end of the eccentric rod 41 and carries atits free end a wedge 45 which may be adjusted b a bolt 46. A backing block of steel maybe attached to the bracket 44 to. reinforce the fulcrume'd wedge 'lever42. The. eccentric rod may. be lengthened or shortened by a nut47. By meansof a spring 48 connected at one end totheirod'or sha'ft 36 and at the other end to a stationary support 49 the shaft36 1s given a tendency to return in one direction and toforce the roller 39 against the wedge45; As; the reciprocation motion of "the eccentric rod 41 isjtransmitted'through the lever 42 to the wedge 45. the wedgeopcrates to reciprocate? it the rod 36. J To the rod 36 are pivotally connected pawls "50 and 50 for engagement with ratchet wheels '51 and 51"respectively, the

former being attached to shaft 2 of the hopper 1 and the latter to shaft 29 of the sprocket wheel 28.

The heated blanks are successively delivered from the furnace to a chute 52 and deposited thereby in a V-shaped set edge 53. Carrier fingers (not shown and not forming a part of this invention) mounted on the end of a transfer slide snap over the blank on their'stroke toward the set edge, and in their stroke away from the set edge carry the blank, hot end u underneath the reciprocating' headin ie and in position directly over the ori ca of the stationary solid die 75. As the heading die descends, the cold end of the blank is forced into the orifice of the die and carrier fingers return for another blank. The heading tool continues down and forms the head. The headed articles are knocked out of the orifice of the stationary heading die when the movable' heading die has been moved out of its he roller 39 and with Illlb heading position and carried awayby suitable means. The timing of the apparatus maybe such that a blank is placed in position on the set edge after the preceding blankhas been carried to the heading die.

' It is understood that the movements of the mechanisms of the heading machine, of the heating a paratus and of the automatic cut through the automatic cut off 8 on to the blank carrier chain.

The blank carrier chain 10 is intermittentit moved so that a pocket 11 thereof is 25 (fir ectly below the chute 7 when the chain is lease a blank at that very moment. The chain advances gradually through the combustion vchamber 13 and the ends of the blanks exposed to the furnace flame are gradually heated to 'the desired forging tem rature.' The heated blanks are delivere by the chain, hot end up, to the V- shaped set edge 53 and then carriedto the heading die.

By this method of heating the ends only of the blanks, the objects of the invention as set forth at the beginning of the speci fication are fully attained. The heatingis conducted under such conditions that the wasteful formation of scale is largely done away with. The operation is continuous since a steady stream of blanks is fed to the mamas headin machine. All danger of sticking portion of the blank is at such a temperature that it will readily flow.

In this'manner the articles produced possess'the redeeming features of all methods in vogue without the detrimental features of any of them; moreover, the rivets or bolts can, according to my method, be made at smaller cost, since many steps heretofore used are obviated and the speed of production is increased in that a single blow solid die riveting machine may be'used, with the attendant advantages of economy in operating cost of this type of machine.

The apparatus'disclosed for carrying out the objects of the invention is largely a diagrammatic representation of the idea on which the invention is based to explain the theory and principles of operation.

result can be accomplished by apparatus of radically different nature.

I claim:

1. In apparatus for making headed articles the combination with a solid die heading machine, of a heating furnace, a conveyor, constructed to carry a number of blanks, located at one side of the combustion chamber of the furnace, means for cooling the conveyor and the portions of the "blanks which do not extend into the combustion chamber, and means for-successively delivering the blanksto the heading machine' It is" understood that the objects and the desired at rest and the cut off 8 'is operated to re- 

